North Sea Archaeologies

A Maritime Biography, 10,000 BC - AD 1500

Robert Van de Noort

Theoretically innovative, developing the concept of 'hybridity' to explain how people engaged with their environment

Full integration of landscape and maritime archaeology provides a unified approach to the archaeology of the sea

Time frame stretching from the last ice age to the end of the Middle Ages elucidates the long-term processes that have created the modern perception of the North Sea

North Sea Archaeologies

A Maritime Biography, 10,000 BC - AD 1500

Robert Van de Noort

Description

This innovative study offers an up-to-date analysis of the archaeology of the North Sea. Robert Van de Noort traces the way people engaged with the North Sea from the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 BC, to the close of the Middle Ages, about AD 1500. Van de Noort draws upon archaeological research from many countries, including the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and France, and addresses topics which include the first interactions of people with the emerging North Sea, the origin and development of fishing, the creation of coastal landscapes, the importance of islands and archipelagos, the development of seafaring ships and their use by early seafarers and pirates, and the treatments of boats and ships at the end of their useful lives.

North Sea Archaeologies

A Maritime Biography, 10,000 BC - AD 1500

Robert Van de Noort

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: the sea is 'good to think'2. An archaeological theory of the sea3. The sea as a dynamic and hybrid landscape4. Fish: exploring the sea as a taskscape5. Socializing coastal landscapes6. Archipelagos and islands7. Moving across the North Sea8. The daily practice of seafaring: the ship as heterotopia par excellence9. The cultural biographies of boats10. Conclusions: a maritime biography

North Sea Archaeologies

A Maritime Biography, 10,000 BC - AD 1500

Robert Van de Noort

Author Information

Robert Van de Noort is Professor in Wetland Archaeology at the University of Exeter. He has led the multi-period Humber Wetlands Project and the excavations at the Iron Age 'marsh-fort' at Sutton Common, in Yorkshire.